Faith with her Eeyore hood up. She wasn't a fan of it. :)
Monday, October 31, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Well Halloween is just about here. So the first of several parties took place yesterday. Unfortunately the croup has been making its way through the Hemmerdinger kids and Faith had to stay home with me yesterday.
It was summer when Karen started planning Halloween and Ebay was the first stop. She bought a Pooh bear, Tigger, and Ehor costume. Well, last month she realized that there would be a fight over who was going to be Pooh. So back to Ebay for another Pooh.
Anyway, here is Reuben and Jacob as Pooh:
This afternoon is our community Halloween parade, but this morning Reuben woke up with the seal-like barking cough of croup. So now he and Faith are out for this afternoon. We will probably just skip it and hopefully recoup to go trick-or-treating tomorrow evening.
This afternoon is our community Halloween parade, but this morning Reuben woke up with the seal-like barking cough of croup. So now he and Faith are out for this afternoon. We will probably just skip it and hopefully recoup to go trick-or-treating tomorrow evening.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Well Reuben put on pants the other day all by himself, unfortunately they were on backwards and they belonged to Faith ;-)
One evening a couple of days ago, Reuben went missing for a few minutes. We then see him strutting down the stairs with a big grin! He's wearing Faith's pants. Another slightly unsettling item is that Faith's pants almost actually fit Reuben.
One evening a couple of days ago, Reuben went missing for a few minutes. We then see him strutting down the stairs with a big grin! He's wearing Faith's pants. Another slightly unsettling item is that Faith's pants almost actually fit Reuben.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Update on the flood aftermath.
Looks like the quick reaction team of Karen and Barry did well. The carpet and padding is dry, but I'm gonna have the fans blow on them for another full day. I cut a another 4" sq. hole in the ceiling where the roof leaked and took off the ceiling mounted light fixture. It's wet but drying pretty well. I borrowed a dehumidifier that I have running in that room. Hopefully I can dry things out quick enough that all I need to repair is the drywall and I can leave the insulation.
Meanwhile, Karen left me today... Not for good, but until Wednesday. Tonite on my own went pretty well, after a rough stuff. The boys are still not napping well. After starting out in their beds, they wind up buckled into their bouncy seats sitting on opposites sides of folding wall screen during nap time. Reuben fell asleep in his seat about 15 minutes before the end of nap time. Jacob never slept. They are typically miserable without the nap, but luckly tonite was not that bad. Faith is also cutting 2 molars, so she is also pretty grumpy. Still, I got all three to bed with only using the boob tube for an hour.
Tomorrow will be easier with Kelsey on the job.
Rain, Rain, Go Away!
Well it all started Friday when Karen called me at work to tell me the roof was leaking... Not a start to a good weekend.
Anyway the flat roof above our office was in fact leaking with drips coming from the ceiling in about 4 places.
I placed a tarp over the suspected area of the leak, the door sill out from our master bedroom.
But the leak kept dripping at least for awhile.
However, things started looking up in the morning. The leaks stopped!! House is dry, even my fear of the basement flooding was gone, which I checked at 7 am. Decided it was fine to take the boys to their gym class... It's 9:45 am.
10:15, my cell phone rings as I pull into the parking lot of the gym class. "The basement is flooded," says Karen.
10:45, I'm back home shop-vac'ing the basement. About 100 gallons later, we started taken control. So I went to look at the drain at the walkout of the basement.
It was about an inch from the door sill (this picture is after about an hour of my pump started removing the water). Got my submersible pump (bought a few years ago during our last flood) to remove the water. Several hours later it began to make a dent. The drain was not clogged, there was just no where for the water to go, so my pump was actually pulling water up from the drain.
Very shortly after I started pumping the water by the drain, the water in my basement really started to subside. So I guess the house's problem is the drainage below and around the foundation of the house is poor. When a large rain occurs, especially after a long period of no rain when all the ground is hard included the clay that is likely under the house, the water pools up. My house winds up sitting in a pool of water. When I pumped out the water my the drain, I was relieving the water pressure from the "pool" upon the house.
I guess this is classic reason for a sump pump. After the fixing the roof, that will be next on the list. Though I'm not sure if one will be sufficient since I get water in from both ends of hte house. How to determine whether the water pooled on one side is connected with the pool from the other so that both ends could be serviced by a the sump pump?
Well, to make a long story short. The unfinished side of the basement is dry; by 1 pm it was basically dry. I have 3 fans and a heater blowing on the carpet in the finished side of the basement. Hopefully that will dry quickly to avoid any mildew or mold. I was able to sabe the carpet after the last flood several years ago via the same method. I expect in about 3 days, that side should be dry.
Got an estimate for a new flat roof today from I guy who examined the existing roof in the pouring rain. That gave him points in my book. He also left a tar/cement mixture to apply to roof for a temp patch. So far, I'm not messing with my successful tarp.
Cut a 4"sq. hole in the ceiling to take look. The drywall is pretty messy and there is bat insulation in the ceiling that has to be wet in places. Not sure how to succesfully dry that out. I may cut a few more holes to get some air in there. I also set the A/C to hold a 71 deg temp which should also dry out the house. Stay tuned.....
I placed a tarp over the suspected area of the leak, the door sill out from our master bedroom.
But the leak kept dripping at least for awhile.
However, things started looking up in the morning. The leaks stopped!! House is dry, even my fear of the basement flooding was gone, which I checked at 7 am. Decided it was fine to take the boys to their gym class... It's 9:45 am.
10:15, my cell phone rings as I pull into the parking lot of the gym class. "The basement is flooded," says Karen.
10:45, I'm back home shop-vac'ing the basement. About 100 gallons later, we started taken control. So I went to look at the drain at the walkout of the basement.
It was about an inch from the door sill (this picture is after about an hour of my pump started removing the water). Got my submersible pump (bought a few years ago during our last flood) to remove the water. Several hours later it began to make a dent. The drain was not clogged, there was just no where for the water to go, so my pump was actually pulling water up from the drain.
Very shortly after I started pumping the water by the drain, the water in my basement really started to subside. So I guess the house's problem is the drainage below and around the foundation of the house is poor. When a large rain occurs, especially after a long period of no rain when all the ground is hard included the clay that is likely under the house, the water pools up. My house winds up sitting in a pool of water. When I pumped out the water my the drain, I was relieving the water pressure from the "pool" upon the house.
I guess this is classic reason for a sump pump. After the fixing the roof, that will be next on the list. Though I'm not sure if one will be sufficient since I get water in from both ends of hte house. How to determine whether the water pooled on one side is connected with the pool from the other so that both ends could be serviced by a the sump pump?
Well, to make a long story short. The unfinished side of the basement is dry; by 1 pm it was basically dry. I have 3 fans and a heater blowing on the carpet in the finished side of the basement. Hopefully that will dry quickly to avoid any mildew or mold. I was able to sabe the carpet after the last flood several years ago via the same method. I expect in about 3 days, that side should be dry.
Got an estimate for a new flat roof today from I guy who examined the existing roof in the pouring rain. That gave him points in my book. He also left a tar/cement mixture to apply to roof for a temp patch. So far, I'm not messing with my successful tarp.
Cut a 4"sq. hole in the ceiling to take look. The drywall is pretty messy and there is bat insulation in the ceiling that has to be wet in places. Not sure how to succesfully dry that out. I may cut a few more holes to get some air in there. I also set the A/C to hold a 71 deg temp which should also dry out the house. Stay tuned.....
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Well they almost finished on Friday. The shutters they thought were ours, were actually someone else's. Our are due to come in this coming Friday. So it should all be finished a few days after that.
We have been very happy with the company's work and would definitely recommend them for both price and quality. The company is Century Siding.
Anyway is our house minus the shutters.
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